Cranberry-gatherer



(No Model.)

D. LUMBBRT.

GRANBBRRY GATHBRBR.

No. 331,983. Patented Dec. 8. 1885.

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DANIEL LUMBERT, OF CENTREVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

CRANBERRY-GATHERER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No 331,983, dated December 8, 1885.

Application iiled February 19, 1885. Serial No. 156,328. (No model) .To all 1.0720122, t may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL LUMBERT, of Centreville, in the county of Barnstable and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cranberry-Gatherers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specilication.

My invention relates toimprovements in the device for gathering cranberries for which United States Letters Patent were granted to me December 11, 1883, No. 289,846. In my said patented gathering device the gatheringrods are of several lengths and located in different planes, so that their free ends penetrate the vines in an irregular manner. The stripping of the vines is produced by a series of separate pointed stripping-plates having open intervals between them, and which require to be held in place by wires whose opposite ends are attached, respectively, to the front piece and to the central cross-bar oi' the frame. These unequal rods and independent stripping-plates catch and tear the vines and render the movement of the device diiijcult. I have found, also, the use of a sheet-metal apron hinged to the side bars and depending from a xed wire-netting to and against the front end of the shield or covering-plate of the receptacle a complicated and objectionable feature.

The object of my presentinvention is to obviate the defects which I have found in my device as heretofore patented, and to simplify its construction, increase its efficiency, and reduce its cost; and it consists, mainly, of a single continuous wire screen supported so as to be self-adj ustable upon wire rods extending directly from the cross-bar of the shield or covering-plate of the gathering-receptacle to apertures in. the front oscillating plate closing the front end of said receptacle, and which carries the stripping plate, the same being a substitute for the movable apron, and the fixed netting closing the opening between the shield and oscillating front plate in the old device; also, in the combination, with the oscillating front plate of the device,ofa continuous straight-edged stripping-plate iitted to project inwardly toward the points of the gathering-rods when the plate is depressed, and of a series of gathering-rods of equal length, whose points project in the same plane and in a line parallel with the continuons stripper, when the latter is depressed, as a substitute for the independent strippers and the rods of different lengths arranged in different planes.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is an elevation in perspective of m-y improved cranberry-gatherer; Fig. 2, a plan view of the under side thereof, and Fig. 3 a longitudinal vertical section of the same in line a: w of Fig. 2.

The improved device, in its general form and construction, resembles that described in my said patent of December l1, 1883. Its principal features are a gathering-fork, a receptacle, of which the fork constitutes the bottom ,to catch and hold the berries, and a movable stripper to detach the berries from the vines. The gathering-fork consists of a series of parallel rods, A A, projecting from a crosspiece, B. These rods form the bottom of a receptacle iuclosed by parallel side pieces, C C, whoseV inner ends are attached to the ends of the rear cross-pieces, B, and partially covered by a fixed covering-plate, D, preferably of thin sheet metal, extending between the side pieces, C G, from the rear piece, B, forward over about two-thirds (more or less) of the length of the gathering-rods A A, parallel therewith, and at a distance above the same somewhat less than the width of the side pieces, C C. The front end of the covering-plate D is attached to a cross-rod, E, extending from one side piece to the other, and which serves to brace the side pieces and to firmly support the covering-plate. Side bars, F F, are fitted upon the covering-plate j ust inside of the side pieces, C C, parallel therewith, the inner end ofeach being attached to the rear cross-piece, B. The lower edges of the side pieces, C G, of the receptacle terminate in line with the front ends of the rods A A, and the front end of each side piece is sloped or inclined upwardly and beveled outwardly to a sharp edge, and is also, by

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preference, armed with a thin plate or shoe, G, projecting forward therefrom, to facilitate the separation ofthe vines as the fork is pushed forward through and between them. The front edge of each shoe G is curved, and its lower end is made to projectslightly below thelower edge of the side plate and its upper edge above the saine. (See Fig. 3 and dotted lines therein.)

The rods A A of the gathering-fork are all of the same length, and their inner ends are inserted in the rear cross-piece, B, near to its lower edge, in two proximate lines parallel with said edge, so that the end of every other 'rod shall be in the upper and of the intervening rods in the lower line, thereby increasing slightly the interval between them. The free front ends of the rods are, however, brought to a common plane slightly below the plane of the lower edge of the side pieces, C C, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

The gathering-fork, consisting of the rods A A A and the receptacle combined therewith, is manipulated by a central handle, H, extending longitudinally over the covering-plate D, parallel therewith. Thishandle is supported at its rear end upon a wire bracket, I, fitted upon the rear piece, B, and at its front end by a wire bracket, J, extending therefrom in a curve through the plate D to the lower portion of the rear piece, B, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3.

A movable stripper consisting of a crossplate, K, of a width about equal to that of the rear cross-piece, B, and of a length which permits it to play freely between the front ends of the side pieces, C C, transversely to the length thereof, is secured to the front ends of two lateral bars, L L, which extend back longitudinally over the side bars, F F, on the cover- 40 ing-plate D, so that their rear ends may rest upon the top of the rear cross-piece, B. These stripper-bars are united by a crossba-r, LNI, in front of the end of the handle H, as well as by the stripper-plate K, and the frame thus constructed is pivoted to the rear cross-piece, B, either by hinging the rear ends of the bars L L thereto or by means of side plates, N N, of sheet metal, secured to the bars L L, to project downward from the outer edge of each, and

Whose rear ends are inserted between the ends of the rear cross-piece, B, and the ends of the side pieces, C C, far enough to admit of being engaged by a pivot-pin inserted through the end of each side piece.

The front ends of the side plates, N N, of the stripper-frame arelwidened in front of the covering-plate D, so that when the front plate, K, is elevated to bring its lower edge on a line with the top edge of the side pieces, C C, the

wide portion of the side plates will inclose the space between the longitudinal bars of the stripperframe and said side pieces.

The opening left between the front edge of the fixed coveringplate D of the receptacle and the movable front plate, K, is closed by .a wire-netting, D, resting upon and secured to a series of small parallel rods or wires, P P,

hinged to the cross-rod E, and which extend thence each to and through an aperture in the upper edge of the stripperplate K. (See Fig. 3.) The piece of netting is of a size to cover fully the space between the cross-rod E and the edge of the front plate when the front plate is forced down. l

As the front plate moves up and down the front ends of the rods P P play freely through the apertures in the plate.

The stripper-bars L L are so adjusted in length as that the front plate is carried thereby, when it is depressed, far enough in front of the ends of the gatheringrods A A to leave room for a' stripper, S, secured to the lower edge of the front plate, to project inwardly therefrom at a right angle to the face of the plate, so that its stripping-edge shall approach closely the points of the rods when the plate is depressed.

The ends ofthe stripper are secured to the side plates, N N, of the frame, so that when the f rame and its front plate are depressed the receptacle over the gathering fork or rods isv completely inclosed.

The stripper and its frame are automatically held in elevated position by means of springs T T, interposed between the side bars, F F, on the coveringplate and the superimposed stripper-bars L L. (See Fig. 3.) The upward movement is arrested by a stop constructed of a rod or wire, Q, inserted in 'the end of the handle H, to project therefrom over a diagonal strip, NV, fitted upon the stripper. The rear end of the diagonal strip is secured to the under side of the stripper-bar, and its front end is made to rest upon the middle of the crossbar M of the frame.v A button, V, upon this diagonal strip W serves to facilitate the depression of the stripper with the thumb of the hand grasping the handle.

The device is operated by pushing it forward through the cranberry-vines, while the stripper-frame is elevated so that the gathering-rods A A shall pass under the berries. The stri pper-frame is thereupon depressed by a pressure of the 'thumb upon the buttonV so as to bring the stripper S into line in front of the rods and so close the receptacle, and upon drawing the device away from the vines the berries are caught by the rods and stripper and stripped from the vines, and being retained upon the rods and confined in the gathering'receptacle are readily emptied therefrom into a basket or other vessel by allowing the stripper-frame to spring open.

It is evident that the wire-netting D may be replaced by a thin metallic plate, and that various forms of springs may be employed to ele vate the stripper-frame, and also that the details of construction herein described may be varied without departing from my invention.

I claim as my invention- A l. The improvement in a cranberry-gatherer, which consists in the combination, with the covering-plate inclosing the rear end of the receptacle over the gathering-rods and with ILO IIO

the oscillating plate carrying the stripping plate at the front thereof, of a single eontinnons self-adjusting Covering-screen extending directly from the front edge of the covering plate to the upperedge of the oscillating plate, substantially in the manner and for the pur'- pose herein set forth.

2. The combination, with the oscillating front plate of the stripping-freine in a cranberry gatherer, of a continuous stripping plate projecting inwardly from thelower edge of said front plate to present, when the plate is depressed, a continuous straight edge perellel with the front ends of the gatheringrods, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

3. The combination, with :L continuons straight-edged stripper projecting from the lower edge of the oscillating front plate in a cranberry-picker, of the series of gatheringrods of equal length, Whose points project into close proximity to the edge of the stripper when the latter is depressed, said rods constituting the bottom of e receptacle whose front end is closed by the depression of the oscillating front plete, substantially in the nimmer and for the purpose herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my naine to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DAXIEL LUMBERT.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. HINCKLEY, JAMES H. CODD. 

